If time is money, then time is now cheaper than energy. How else can one explain recent reports of airlines cutting aircraft speeds by a few per cent, or container shipping lines asking their masters to steam a little more slowly. In the UK, train operators have instructed their drivers to coast downhill where possible, and doors on passenger trains are not being kept open as long at stations in order to preserve the conditioned air in the carriages. All these measures have been taken in order to reduce fuel consumption, given the current record prices for crude oil and all the other forms of energy whose price derives ultimately from that marker. Motoring organisations report fewer private car journeys, more car pooling and, again, slower speeds. Perhaps this has helped generate one of the more cheering bits of news over the past month: the number of deaths on the UK's roads has fallen to its lowest level since 1926 - just under 3,000 people died in traffic accidents in 2007.
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